Dear Savy,
O'Char is a commune in the city of Battambang. Please see Rozeth stories posted on my blog for more info. She is very dedicated and will surely look after the boy and other families who are in her constituency.
You are the first generous contributor.
With sincere thanks,
Sochua
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Currency: U.S. Dollars
Purpose:Mu Sochua Justice Fund
Contributor: Savy K Hang
Message: To Ms Sochua, This $50.00 is to help Sochea and his family to get foods, school, and clothes.
Please use this fund for the education of O'Char's children through Ms
Mu Sochua. Can someone tell me where O'Char is? In what province?
Thanks, Savy Kennedy Hang, Bridgewater, MASS, USA 02324
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
It is with great apprehension that I am sending this
email to you for the simple reason that I am about to break my own cardinal
rule of never asking anyone for financial help.
What leads me to this situation is that a couple of weeks
ago, a foreigner, Mari Haraldsson, followed Rozeth, a newly elected SRP commune
councilor in O’Char, and posted a few photos of her with a poor family in her
commune. Two photos that attracted my attention are the following:
Miss Rozeth and a man with his children--all of whom are unable to attend
school due to poverty.
In the caption provided with
the second photo, Mari wrote: “A 13 year old handicapped boy who is extremely
positive and vibrant. Rozeth has promised to do her best to help these children
attend school.”
After seeing the sparks in the handicapped boy’s eyes, I decided
to contact to Rozeth to ask her about the boy’s needs.
A few days later, Rozeth sent me back a reply providing quite a
few details about this boy, Sochea. His family has 9 children, five older
children left home to find work and only the four youngest are still home.
Chea, the father, cannot work anymore after injuring his lower back from
lifting heavy weights as a laborer.
It is often said that poverty and misery often goes hand in hand:
in this family’s case, not only are they poor, they have a lot of children, the
father is unable to work and he is also addicted to drinking. So the entire
family depends solely on Sochea’s mother that is why the childen cannot attend
school as they should have.
Rozeth also informed me that Sochea’s education cost is about $15
per month (i.e. about 50 cents per day), most likely to pay the bribe for the
underpaid teacher. In addition, he also needs to spend about $15 in school
uniforms, books and school supplies.
When I asked Rozeth about Sochea’s health condition,
Rozeth informed me that the family told her that, as a child, he came down with
high fever one day, because they are too poor, his family did not pay much
attention to his needs until he lost his ability to walk. From looking at
Sochea’s picture and from little I know about medicine, his case seems to be a
blaring case of polio which could have been easily prevented by simple
vaccination. I think that not everybody in Srok Khmer is aware of this illness,
that is why they are not able to name Sochea’s case properly. Nevertheless,
Rozeth told me that she had contacted an organization that agreed to provide a
wheelchair for Sochea soon. For now, a neighbor whose elderly mother passed
away a few years earlier let Sochea used her wheelchair as you can see in the
photo below:
Upon learning all the facts above, I sent back an email
to Rozeth to tell her that I can secure the funding for Sochea’s schooling for
the upcoming year. However, due to his father’s condition, I also asked her if
she would be willing to manage the fund for the boy to which she agreed.
Dear Friends and Colleagues, while I am able to provide
help for Sochea, his family also counts two other children who are of schooling
age: his younger sister – whom I am told that she is 8-year-old, yet looks more
like a 5 or 6-year-old instead – and his younger brother who is now 6. Just
like Sochea, each child needs about $150 per year for school bribery fees and
about $15 per year for school uniforms and supplies. This is why I am trying to
approach any of you to see if you can help provide for these two children so
that they may attend school – even though we know full well that education is
sub-standard in Srok Khmer.
My goal here is in fact two folds: one if to request for
the help, but more importantly to put Rozeth directly in contact with you so
that she can provide updates from the family, should you be interested in finding
out more about them. Furthermore, because these children will need to attend
school for several more years to come, my idea is that, if you can, please help
contribute $5, $10 for this family, but no more than $30. Why the limit? Quite
simply because Rozeth may have to come back to you each year for help again.
Altogether, I am confident that we could pool enough fund to send these
children to school.
So now you understand why I have to ply my cardinal rule
for this good cause. In any case, if you can help, please send your
contribution to Mrs. Mu Sochua website ( http://sochua.wordpress.com/ donate/
) and please inform her that the fund is geared for the education of O’Char’s
children, Mrs. Mu Sochua agreed to turn over the funds raised to Rozeth.
In closing, I would like to thank you for taking the time
to hear this plea for help. Whether you can financially help or not is not the
main issue here, the main point is to see if you can or are willing to act as
Rozeth’s contact points in the future. If you can, please drop her a note (she is a recipient of this email also). She
may not respond to you right away, but please do have patience because, from
what I understand, she has to take care of 6 villages and she lives in rather rural
areas where Internet access is not easily available. Furthermore, she is not
very fluent in English either. She mentioned to me that she is still taking
English classes at a local pagoda. So far, my correspondence with her has been
in Khmer exclusively, so preferably, she would like to read your emails in
Khmer Unicode.
With my sincere thanks,
Heng Soy
5 comments:
Hello,
Tell me where I can send the donation to help children and who I can trust. A web site or a person such as ms Roseth.
Thanks
Savy Kennedy Hang
Donate at Mu Sochua's site (http://sochua.wordpress.com/donate/), which is also published in this article.
Thank you for your kindness,let make a deal you and I can send money for this kids.I am your long lost brother,I missed
you and Savannah very much...I am very glad that you are doing right.Thank god.
.Love you...
Your lost brother.
...T Y...
Rozeth, WE LOVE and SUPPORT YOU.
Don't just say that do like me and my long lost brother Savy Kennedy Hang we sent money to help this kids we were orphanage ourself due to k.R killed our family during pol pot era.I hated politicians,i loved to help orphanage kids.I was orphanage myself,i knew how it felt like...Please help the needy,especially, kids...
Young kKhmer professional.
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